Living in the Era of Facebook

July 24, 2010 — -- From momentous events like a baby's first steps to the seriously mundane -- "I think I need to hit up the self-help section of Barnes and Nobles. ... Like soon" -- Facebook is the way we share our lives.

"In a world without it, I think I would die," said Giulia Easthope, 15. She spends at least four to five hours a day on Facebook and has 466 friends.

"I love Facebook because it's one of the easiest ways to keep up with the people in your life and you can, like, talk to them and you can send them videos or pictures," Easthope said.

Facebook is, in the simplest terms, an engine of human connection. Give Facebook a few vital facts about yourself and it gives you a direct line to your past, present and future, changing lives.

When founder Mark Zuckerberg was a Harvard student, the site was used by his fellow students to get to know one another.

Since then, it's mushroomed from a favorite of college students to a favorite of grandparents too. In the last 15 months, Facebook has added around eight new users every second.

Having reached 500 million users, the six-year-old startup is one of the fastest growing companies in recent years.

Facebook essentially has replaced the mall, where for years teens have gone to gather, gossip and get away.